In fact, Cao Rui was not afraid of the bed crossbow at all.
Yes, this is the truth. As a former lieutenant general of the Chen Dynasty, Cao Rui also had several bed crossbows in his hands. He was well aware of the power of this thing, as well as its shortcomings.
After becoming a bandit, Cao Rui had thought about building a few more bed crossbows as his own deterrent weapons. Unfortunately, when the Chen Dynasty retreated, they left behind soldiers and civilians, but only took away officials and craftsmen. This made it impossible for Cao, whose understanding of bed crossbows was limited to "huge power, like an oversized crossbow arrow", to manufacture a bed crossbow.
Of course, even if he had the blueprints, it would be useless. As far as he knew, there were no craftsmen who could build a bed crossbow, whether in his former stronghold or the current Qitian stronghold.
Yes, Qitian Village has none, because all the craftsmen who have made breakthroughs in skills have been transferred to the steel plant by Lin Hai. The industry of Qitian Village has always been limited to the level of using hammers to forge iron and casting a machete.
Qinghe County could manufacture crossbows, but Lin Hai had always disliked them. While powerful, they were expensive, difficult to transport, and incredibly slow to fire... In short, aside from decent range and decent power, they didn't quite meet Lin Hai's expectations for a powerful infantry companion. That is, until Wang Liang explained that these weapons weren't meant to accompany infantry in advance, but rather for positional warfare and sieges.
Of course, what finally convinced Lin Hai was the low yield and difficulty in transportation of nitroglycerin.
So this time, Lin Hai brought crossbows with him, two of which were in Ding Lin's first regiment.
Cao Dazhang knew full well that the crossbows could easily rip his crudely crafted shield to shreds. But it didn't matter. The two sides were so close that even if a few shields were shattered, it wouldn't affect their advance. Even a well-trained soldier wouldn't be able to fire a second crossbow in that amount of time.
Unless they are well trained.
But that's impossible.
Cao Dazhang was well aware of the cost of crossbow bolts. Even with the financial resources of the Great Chen Dynasty, there wasn't enough military funding to regularly train the soldiers who operated them. Especially after Cao Dazhang's diligent efforts to embezzle military funds, he guaranteed that his soldiers would only practice firing crossbows once during their service. If they could train a second time, it would mean that the embezzlement of military funds was incomplete.
The core of Cao Dadang's team are the veterans of the Chen Dynasty who stayed with him. They fight bravely, are determined, and have superb skills, but... they don't know about crossbows.
Most of the able-bodied men captured after the bandits became bandits had no idea what a bed crossbow was, nor did they know how much power this "big-looking" crossbow arrow contained. So although they felt that "Qinghe County is rich and the crossbow arrows they make are bigger than those of other counties", they were not scared by the bed crossbow.
After all, the crossbow arrows look thinner than the logs used to make shields, so what's there to be afraid of?
The veterans began to slow down their pace quietly, trying their best to hide their fronts behind the group of ignorant recruits. As a result, the overall formation began to become chaotic and the speed of advancement also slowed down.
Cao Dazhang knew that this was not the time to be timid. He planned to boost morale and let the soldiers know that even if the crossbows were powerful, they could only fire once at most. Two crossbows could destroy two large shields at most, but he had a full four hundred large shields. What was there to be afraid of?
There were two muffled sounds: "bang" and "bang".
Cao Dadang instinctively lay down, not afraid even if the big shield fell on him, after all, his life was at stake. His group of veterans followed his movements.
When Cao Rui was still a lieutenant general, he carefully trained his soldiers in the skill of dodging crossbows. After all, training this skill was free and could reduce casualties...
The crossbow arrows flying at high speed found their target. With a loud crash, the two large shields shattered. The several people hiding behind the shields were instantly torn into pieces. Many limbs flew in the air and scattered in all directions along with the blood.
The enormous power of the crossbow and the bloody way of killing shocked everyone. The shield formation was quiet for a few seconds, and then became extremely noisy. Behind the large shield next to the destroyed shield, there were even sounds of vomiting and crying.
If it weren't for Cao Rui's strict military law, if it weren't for the fact that he finally learned to cherish his soldiers after becoming a bandit, Cao Dazhang knew that his army of able-bodied men would probably collapse.
No one can face the power of the bed crossbow.
"Don't be afraid, everyone. That's a crossbow, a large crossbow that fires arrows very slowly. They won't have time to shoot the second arrow. Everyone, hold up your shields and follow me." Boss Cao stepped forward in time.
All the soldiers knew that their leader was once an officer of the Great Chen Dynasty, and what such a man said, especially on the battlefield, was always true. As Cao Rui continued to advance with his large shield, the entire shield formation miraculously stabilized, and many veterans followed suit, shouting, "Follow the master! They can't shoot a second arrow!"
"It's actually pretty good." Ding Lin watched the commotion in the shield formation gradually subside and asked, "The shield in the front should be Cao Rui. Can we shoot an arrow at him?"
"Sure, why don't we give it a try?" Ma Wen, and even all the students taught by Lin Hai, had no idea of capturing the enemy general alive. After all, if they had to pay a greater sacrifice in order to capture an enemy general alive, it would be totally unprofitable. If they could kill the enemy general at the beginning, it would be a huge profit for their side no matter what.
Watching the shield formation gradually returning to normal, Cao Rui took a breath. He only needed to move forward thirty more steps, just thirty steps.
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